Economists and the country’s budget watchdog have said there was a strong likelihood the Conservative government could find the budget in a surplus position at the end of this fiscal year, or a year earlier than expected.

But those predictions came before Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
unveiled tax-relief measures totaling 26.76 billion Canadian dollars ($23.97 billion) over a six-year period ending in March 2020, at a cost of C$3.07 billion in fiscal 2014-15. The measures target couples with children under the age of 18, and allow them to split income for tax purposes.

“Canadians can expect an update of our fiscal position, which, due to the strong economic management of our Conservative government, shows we are on track to balance the budget in 2015,” Mr. Oliver said in a statement Thursday.

Mr. Oliver will deliver the update in Toronto.

The ruling Conservatives, which have trailed the Liberal Party for more than a year in public-opinion polls, is counting on the government’s return to a balanced budget to help persuade Canadians to elect them for a fourth-straight mandate in a national vote that must be held by October, 2015.

With a budget surplus in sight, the Conservative government has signaled its intent to introduce tax-relief measures it promised during the last election campaign in 2011, in which it won a majority mandate.

The government got a boost on the economic side this week with news that Statistics Canada upgraded growth data for the first and second quarters of this year. The bulk of the upward revision to economic output was accounted for by stronger growth in business investment – which the Bank of Canada said is required to help drive expansion in the coming years as debt-laden consumers curtail spending.